Military officials and policymakers rarely credit gender equality as a factor in increased effectiveness in peacekeeping and security operations. However, a growing body of evidence from the field shows that the inclusion of women improves operational effectiveness in three key ways: improved information gathering, enhanced credibility, and better force protection through enhanced legitimacy. The inclusion of women is a key factor, but additional training of military planners and policymakers is required in order to apply a gender perspective more consistently. Additional field research is also required in order to further develop policies on how to best apply a gender perspective in daily operations, and ongoing monitoring and evaluations are necessary to assess the effectiveness of these activities.